MEDIA DECODER; Federal Funds Called Vital For Many Public Stations

By ELIZABETH JENSEN

Published: June 25, 2012

When Congress approved a $445 million advance appropriation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December, the corporation, which administers funds given to public broadcasters, was directed to investigate an important question: Could public television and radio survive without federal funds?

That question was answered in a report delivered to Congress last week, which concluded that no alternative income sources could replace the federal dollars, which account for 15 percent of public broadcasters' overall revenue.

The 181-page report, researched by Booz & Company, a management consulting firm, looked at 14 current income streams and five alternative sources of funds. Even in combination, none of the alternative options, like television and radio advertising, paid digital subscriptions, digital game publishing, and retransmission fees from cable and satellite operators, provide ''a realistic opportunity to generate significant positive net revenue that could replace the current amount of federal funding,'' the report concluded.

Adopting a commercial ad model, as some, including the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have suggested, would have a negative impact, partly because some viewers would stop donating, according to the report.

The report found that more than 60 percent of public stations are operating with budget deficits and that the elimination of federal funds would leave 54 public television stations and 76 public radio stations, most in rural areas, ''at high risk of no longer being able to sustain operations.''

Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon and the chairman of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, said in a telephone interview, ''You can conjure up a dozen and a half options and drill down, but basically there is no viable alternative to the current system that we've got. The things that people throw around, talking about edging toward commercialization, actually will end up costing revenue, as well as the integrity of the system.''

Mr. Blumenauer said he planned to assemble bipartisan meetings in Washington in coming weeks to review the report.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.